Stray Kids, Episode 8: the audience is filled with camera men

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(Written May 14, 2025)

Concert time in Shinchon!  We have our Stray Kids, a concert stage in the middle of the street, tons of fans, and some mystery guests posing as fans to evaluate and possibly eliminate.  There’s a LOT at stake here.  Let’s goooo!

The show is still calling this “busking.”  I think actual buskers would like a word.

Our boys are overwhelmed by the crowd size and trying to get their bearings.  They bow and make their very first introduction to the public.  The girls scream in response.  Bang Chan thanks everyone for coming out on such a cold night.  The girls scream in response.  Han asks if anyone has been watching their survival show on Mnet.  The girls scream in response.  Are the group’s mics even on? 

The group members then introduce themselves individually, and while they wait for their turns, Woojin and Bang Chan spot Jun K from 2pm in the crowd, along with Rado of the songwriting and production team Black Eyed Pilseung.  We have our first mystery guests!  

Jun K and Rado

Our next two are Noh Kyu Min and Yoon Joon Pil.  They’re celebrity reporters from TenAsia, a pop culture news website similar to Entertainment Weekly or PopMatters.

TenAsia celebrity reporters

We’re not done.  As Changbin talks to the crowd, we see two more mystery guests arrive backstage.  It’s Yugyeom and BamBam from GOT7!  As they settle in to watch the show on a monitor, they’re joined by – oh my God I love this group – Sungjin and YoungK from Day6!

So much is happening at once.  Onstage, Seungmin announces their first song, “Hellevator.”  The crowd knows this one, since the music video has been out for a while.  This is a rough one for our boys, because they’ve had to change the song’s arrangement and choreo from nine members to eight.  (Seriously, when is Lee Know coming back?)

No time to dwell on it.  Time for “Hellevator.”  Let’s do this.

A few mistakes here and there.  Someone’s clip-on mic comes loose.  (They’re all moving so fast, I can’t see whose it is.)  Woojin’s voice misses a high note.  They’re clearly nervous, but overall, it’s a good performance.  They just need to shake off the pressure, clip that mic back on, and focus.

Changbin acknowledges to the crowd that they are now eight instead of nine.  “Today, I think about him more,” he says.  The crowd shouts encouragement.  I.N, who is an immediate crowd favorite, announces the next song.  It’s “School Life.”   He really is adorable.  Okay, showtime!

WAY better.  They’re more confident now, and Bang Chan interacts with the audience, provoking even more adoring screams.  They seem to be having fun now.  And based on the way even the mystery guests are gushing over him, I think I.N is safe from elimination.

The boys announce their final song, “YAYAYA.”  We haven’t heard this one yet, but it’s the one Felix was nervous about in the last episode.  We learn that they’ve all had a hard time writing and choreographing this new song in a week, along with the overall rehearsal.  They’re all stressed out, and Bang Chan tells us in a confessional that he’s most worried about Felix being eliminated.

We get a flashback to Felix practicing for hours by himself and constantly making mistakes.  He suddenly leans against the wall, slides down to the floor, and bursts into tears.

I need a minute.

JYP, if you eliminate that Aussie boy, I will (looking up Australian slang) get aggro on your ass and bung on a blue.  I don’t know exactly what that entails, but I mean every bloomin’ word, mate.

Flashback over.  Showtime.  Come on, Felix…

I love the song.  I love the wild energy of the choreo.  It’s going incredibly well, and then …

It’s hard to get a clear screenshot, but Felix stumbles during a dance step and almost falls.  He recovers immediately and keeps going like nothing happened, but our celebrity guests definitely noticed.  The fans, of course, don’t care.  They may have been too obsessed with I.N to even notice.

The performance seems to keep going well, and now Felix gets a rap solo.  Let’s see him redeem himself.  This is the rap he’s been practicing over and over this past week.

Something’s off.  I can tell from the expression on Jun K’s face.  The subtitles won’t tell us what’s going on, but I think Felix may have been struggling with the lyrics.  The boys then finish the song by throwing confetti into the crowd and landing perfectly in their final formation. 

They did it.  The concert is a success.  Felix made some mistakes, but the others made mistakes during the first song.  I think he’ll be okay.  Honestly, based on the crowd reaction, I don’t see anyone getting eliminated today.

Seungmin thanks the crowd and mentions again that they miss Lee Know.  At first, I’m wondering why the group keeps bringing him up, but then I remember the audience has been watching the show.  They know he’s been eliminated.  The group has to address it.  He’s the elephant on the stage.

The group bows, says goodbye, and leaves the stage.  The exhilaration gives way to anxiety as they remember they’re about to be evaluated by a lot of famous people.  They go backstage and find our GOT7 and Day6 guests.  They didn’t even know these idols were watching.

GOT7 and Day6 talk with our boys about what it was like back when they were busking.  Fun Fact:  The English word “busking” is the same word they use in Korean.  Second Fun Fact:  WHAT THEY DID WAS NOT BUSKING.  Good grief …

We now cut to the day after the concert, and I’m really getting nervous now.  JYP has met with Jun K and Rado to review footage of the concert and has told them to judge “coldly.”  I stress-eat a box of Triscuits.  Now the boys are lined up waiting for their evaluation.  For some reason, the room is dark.  It looks like they’re about to be executed.  Then JYP comes in and sits at a table in front of them.  Here we go.

Turns out the concert did not go as well as the fans and I thought it did.  JYP tells them he is looking for improvement and growth potential, and he’s worried that some members will take too long to improve.  He says he has to eliminate someone who has been the biggest weakness to the team.

I can’t breathe.

He tells Bang Chan he has to improve in everything.  His vocals aren’t stable.  He tells Woojin that both his vocals and dancing need work.  And Hyunjin still has trouble enunciating when he raps. 

JYP is more direct when he gets to Felix.  He looks Felix right in the eye and says, “You made a mistake in the end.  Why did you do that?”

Felix stays quiet.  JYP keeps going.  “A bigger problem is that when you rap, it doesn’t reach out to me at all, Felix, because you lack in Korean language.”  His voice is scolding now.  I’m dreading whatever’s about to happen.

JYP takes a long pause. Then he sighs deeply and says that the potential eliminations are Hyunjin, Woojin, and Felix.  Of course he’s not going to eliminate Bang Chan.  This group needs their leader.

Another long pause. 

He tells Woojin he’ll give him another chance to improve.  Now it’s down to Hyunjin and Felix.

Again, he tells Felix he’s not good in Korean.  He needs to become fluent, which will take time.  But he needs more time than the company has to give him. 

So, Felix is eliminated.

Felix doesn’t seem to register the news at first.  He just nods his head.  But his fellow Aussie Bang Chan is blinking back tears.  Everyone else is staring at the floor.

JYP goes on to lecture the group about how big the competition is out there, but I’m just waiting for Felix to react.  He just isn’t moving.

JYP tells them this elimination will make the group better, which really has to sting.  I just want him to shut up at this point, but he tells the remaining seven members to knit themselves tightly together, and he hopes that there will be no more eliminations. 

He stands to leave and tells Felix, “You’ve worked hard.”  Felix bows and thanks him.  When JYP leaves, Felix drops his head and turns away from the rest of the group.  Now he cries.  His bandmates try to comfort him.

Felix sobs as he apologizes for letting them down, and this is just awful.  The worst part is that I understand the decision.  Not being fluent in Korean is a huge problem when you’re trying to be a K-pop idol.  Learning a language takes way longer than the two months Felix has been here.  If I were watching this show when it first aired, the decision would have broken my heart, but I would have understood.  It’s only through seeing what a huge star he is now, and how necessary he is to Stray Kids now, that I know it’s not the right decision.

Now we get a moment that I’m pretty sure must be iconic in the STAY fandom.  Bang Chan walks over to Felix.  In his Australian-accented English, he says, “Always find me, yeah?  I’m never going to leave you behind.”

I don’t know exactly what’s happening in Bang Chan’s mind right now, but he clearly hasn’t given up.

Felix hugs the rest of his bandmates, and I’m a mess.  I know he’s coming back at some point, but this is just AWFUL.  We then see him in a confessional. He just looks exhausted.

“My heart hurts a lot,” he tells us.  For someone whose Korean is supposed to be so terrible, he’s really expressing himself now.  “I don’t know what I should do now.”

Hyunjin tells us, “Felix is like a child.  He needs to be taken care of.  He has such a warm heart.”  Okay, this is officially killing me.  Please make it stop.

We get a montage of Felix’s time on the show, set to sad piano music, and I hate everything.

Now Bang Chan is crying in a confessional.  Through his sobs, he’s still speaking English.  “Even when you were really struggling, I should have been there.  I’m so sorry.”  That’s all he can get out.

We end with Felix looking into the camera and saying, “To all the Stray Kids members, I’m really thankful.  Thank you for helping me a lot.  Thank you so much.  I’m sorry I can’t be together with you guys.” 

With that, the episode ends.

Dammit, Bang Chan, I know you have something planned.  Whatever it is, get it done.  Get BOTH our boys back.

Episode 9:  will I be able to get closer today

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